Ah yes, the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife, one of the most dangerous and demanding circuits in the entire world. Known as the official or unofficial testing ground of the world's fastest cars and drivers (depending on who you ask), the lap times recorded here are also considered to be the word of God (or any higher being that you may believe in) by automotive enthusiasts, and by bros who use the numbers as a way of showing off their latest enthusiast knowledge at your local car meet. In all seriousness, though, the Nordschleife will always be the benchmark for any gearhead, and the chance to run a hot lap in an Aston Martin Vantage is just too good to pass up. Just ask the guys over at Sport Auto, a channel dedicated to flogging all things on four wheels around the world's most famous tracks. Their goal is to find out just how fast Mr. Bond's car can go.
Aston Martin has a wildly successful history in creating some of the most iconic British sports cars and grand tourers. While one might be hardcore and the other more practical, every Aston has performance at the forefront of their key feature set. The Aston Martin Vantage is the former. Oh, and it helps that the Vantage is gorgeous, too. Under the bonnet is a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 that makes 503 bhp and 505 pound-feet of torque, and behind the wheel for this run is Sport Auto's Test Driver Christian Gebhardt; no stranger to high horsepower cars and demanding circuits. With onboard cameras and extra bits of info like the actual time, g forces, and an accurate speedometer, we can see how the car behaves and how the driver manages the car on the track.
Big plans and beautiful vehicles are in the pipeline for Aston:
While we won't be the judge of the actual time, let's just say that when looking at the other Sport Auto hot lap videos, the Vantage is splitting hairs with much heavier and larger vehicles (the BMW M5 is faster by almost 5 seconds!?). Granted, factory times are always faster than these runs by magazines and press, but when the driver is giving the same amount of effort in pulling off a good lap, it all comes down to how the car feels and performs. So, for a stunning car just over £120,000, would you get one?
Source: Sport Auto via YouTube